A Himalayan expedition comes across a mountain being, manages to capture it, then transports it back to the United States.

You can find more information regarding this film on its IMDb page.

In addition to the formats listed to the left, this film is available as:
Theora video, Vorbis audio, OGM container, 320x240 at 29.97fps (click here, 190 MB)
Theora video, Vorbis audio, Matroska container, 320x240 at 29.97fps (click here, 190 MB)


This movie is part of the collection: Sci-Fi / Horror

Director: W. Lee Wilder
Producer: W. Lee Wilder
Production Company: United Artists Corp.
Audio/Visual: mono, black and white
Language: English
Keywords: 1950s; Creature; Himalayas

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: cosmico - - March 4, 2010
Subject: Snore Creature?
Another strange Film Noir/Sci-Fi hybrid from W. Lee Wilder, the older and more unique brother of director Billy Wilder.

I'm biased in that I do love this film (mostly for sentimental reasons), but I am not unaware of its many, many flaws, mainly the slow pace and repeated shots. However for me, the sheer weirdness makes up for the boredom in this case. We used to call it "Snore Creature" yet it still has that strange, dreary, ultimately ineffable quality that makes it best viewed at 3 am while under the influence (of what is up to you, but pizza and root beer works for me), and with toothpicks holding up your eyelids. Fun to watch with a friend who also has a good sense of humor and a taste for slow, bizarre old b-movies.

The MPEG2 copy here is as good a print as you'll find anywhere. If you're brave, watch this one as the second half of a double feature with another W. Lee Wilder film, namely KILLERS FROM SPACE, and make sure the snacks and drinks are abundant and a-flowing.

Reviewer: picfixer - - February 4, 2010
Subject: A shaggy man story.
This one is right on the cusp of being so bad it's good. The problem is the first thirty minutes are mind-numbingly boring, with endless and sometimes repeated shots of the backs of climbing men. For variety there are endless shots of men walking through the Bronson Canyon cave. Once the creature is brought to L.A. the so-bad-it's-good fun begins, where with shades of "Them!" (released the same year) there is a pursuit through the storm drains. A cast of regulars that includes Paul Langton, Teru Shimada and William Phipps is better than W. Lee Wilder's direction, and much better than Miles Wilder's screenplay. The bottom line is fun for schlock movie lovers with working fast-forward buttons. All others beware!

Reviewer: drworm01 - - February 15, 2008
Subject: This Movie Killed Irony
The description offered for this film glosses over a lot of content. For instance, the expedition into the Himalayas is find new plants. It doesn't become about the yeti until a the head Sherpa's wife gets kidnapped by one. Then the movie's about the Sherpa forcing the expedition's leaders to help find his wife and take revenge on the yeti that stole her.

The US stuff comes later, about halfway through the film. In fact, I didn't know it was coming at all. The Sherpa story seemed like enough. That was a good story--abysmally executed, yes, but good. There's an odd conceit at work in the film--the Sherpa's wife is kidnapped/killed (I'm not sure) so he wants to find the beast that did it. Reasonable enough. But the white guys leading the expedition don't want to go. The Sherpa is the nominal villain of the piece for wanting to save/avenge his wife. Talk about an accidental window into the ideology of empire. "Yes, yes, your soulmate's being ravaged by some huge monster from beyond time, but there are flowers to pick man! Get your priorities straight."

The movie just gets strange after that. Maybe it was already strange and just kept opening new and odder doors--the monster's held up in immigration, footage of the monster is just one strip of film played forward, backward or paused as needed, and there are bad set mistakes throughout (a rock bounces off an actor's head during an avalanche scene, a shadow from one of the studio lights is plainly visible, the shot with the shadow is reused later in the same scene, etc.). Maybe if I was watching the film with the right people I could make more jokes about it. As it was it's just awful.

Lesson learned: Botanists carry high-balls with them on expeditions. Who knew?

Reviewer: jimelena - - December 13, 2006
Subject: Ouch
If they are climbing mountains; why are they walking down hill in all the scenes?
Why would they have to go through the Dept. of Immigration with a Yeti?
So many questions, and no answers.
Where's my Scotch? That's personal property.
Why are Dr.'s always drunks in old movies?

Reviewer: billbarstad - - July 26, 2006
Subject: A bad one
This movie is a total dog. An abominable snowman is loosed on a big city -- Los Angeles I think -- terrorizing the populace. No one gets too excited about it though. There are a few humorously bad aspects to the film. The creature is caught by botanists on an expedition in the Himalayan mountains of India. The Sherpas and other locals, played by Japanese actors, speak Japanese in lieu of Hindi. The creature is shipped to the US in a refrigerated container not much larger than a shipping crate for a refrigerator. The police station scenes are quite spartan. Acting and dialog are silly bad at times. I noticed the director's name is W. Lee Wilder, never to be confuse him with Billy Wilder.

I downloaded the 256kb mpeg4 file. Video and audio are fine; quite clean.

Credits

The Snow Creature

Produced and Directed by
W. Lee Wilder

Story and Screenplay by
Myles Wilder

Music Composed
and Conducted by
Manuel Compinsky

The Cast
In Order Of Their Appearance
Frank Parrish...........Paul Langton
Peter Wells.............Leslie Denison
Subra...................Teru Shimada
Leva....................Rollin Moriyama
Inspector Karma.........Robert Kino
Airline Manager.........Robert Hinton
Joyce Parrish...........Darlene Fields
Corey, Jr...............George Douglas
Fleet...................Robert Bice
Harry Bennett...........Keith Richards
Dr. Dupont..............Rudolph Anders
Lieutenant Dunbar.......Bill Phipps
Edwards.................Jack Daly
Guard in Warehouse......Rusty Westcott

Director of Photography
Floyd D. Crosby, A.S.C.

Production Supervisor
Mack V. Wright
Associate
Fred M. Muller

Film Editor.......Jodie Copelan, A.C.E.
Sound Recorder....Robert Roderick
Special Effects...Lee Zavitz
Art Director......Frank Sylos
Lighting..........Bill G. Neff

The characters, events and places depicted in this photoplay are fictitious.
Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Copyright MCMLIV by Planet Filmplays, Inc.

RCA Sound System
Approved MPAA Certificate No. 16974

Released by
United Artists Corp.